Wow, Pacman online, free. Simple no strings or hassles. Quick and easy: http://www.google.com/pacman/
This made my day.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
PACman
Wow, Pacman online, free. Simple no strings or hassles. Quick and easy: http://www.google.com/pacman/
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Bloom Box
How much do you know about natural gas? How about oxygen? How about the chemical reaction when these to gases meet?
Bloom Box currently produces fuel cells for corporations and companies, and does not seem to be geared towards the average homeowner or small business yet. Largely due to the high power output of 100 kW. Their website, although nice, doesn't seem to answer all my immediate questions (Mostly upfront purchase/installation and running cost). The website does, however, provide you to a link to its facebook page and a link for residential inquiries. Keep reading for a repost of information.
The following is from Guardian.co.uk:
"The technology may be good and the product reliable. The claims at the press conference were for a technology that will eventually revolutionise power production. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are indeeed an extremely interesting way of generating small quantities of electricity for homes and offices at attractive running costs and low carbon emissions. Other developers, such as Ceres Power in the UK and Ceramic Fuel Cells in Australia/Germany, have products close to market launch and – so far – it is completely unclear whether Bloom's product is better or likely to be more attractively priced or more long-lasting.
SOFCs take a hydrocarbon fuel and split at very high temperature (perhaps 600 degrees C) into hydrogen and carbon. The carbon combines with oxygen to make CO2 and the hydrogen reacts with oxygen from air to make water. This later process causes electrons to flow through the ceramic electrolyte and generate a usable current. The crucial problem is making the cell robust, cheap and durable at the high temperatures experienced in the cell.
Ceramic Fuel Cells has numerous partnerships with large utilities around the world interested in taking its products into local markets. Its product turns about 60% of the energy value of natural gas (largely methane in the UK and Europe) into electricity, making it more efficient than all but the best combined cycle power stations. The remaining energy – residual heat – can be used to provide domestic hot water or, in theory could be used to offer space heating or energy conversion to air conditioning in summer. The carbon dioxide savings are substantial, even if grid natural gas is used. Ceramic Fuel Cells, and probably Bloom, can also use synthesis gas ('syngas') from super-heating wood in the absence of air or can even split liquid ethanol made from agricultural wastes. In theory, a SOFC can use low or zero carbon fuel and offer huge greenhouse gas savings on fossil fuel combustion. SOFCs can also be used for grid balancing. When demand is high, the grid operator will have the ability to remotely increase power output of domestic fuel cells and turn it down when the wind turbines on the hilltops are spinning fast. Ceramic Fuel Cells has successfully demonstrated this feature of its technology.
The problems with SOFCs, probably including the Bloom Box, are well known. The fuel cells burn out and have to be replaced by professional engineers. Ceramic Fuel Cells talks of the units needed to be switched every two years though the company hopes this will improve to once every four years. The cost of the units is high. Ceramic Fuel Cells has mentioned a figure of about £2,000 ($3,000+ ) for a machine that can continuously develop 2 kilowatts of electric power but I think this number is highly optimistic and the true figure is likely to be several times this level for some years to come."
Bloom Box currently produces fuel cells for corporations and companies, and does not seem to be geared towards the average homeowner or small business yet. Largely due to the high power output of 100 kW. Their website, although nice, doesn't seem to answer all my immediate questions (Mostly upfront purchase/installation and running cost). The website does, however, provide you to a link to its facebook page and a link for residential inquiries. Keep reading for a repost of information.
The following is from Guardian.co.uk:
"The technology may be good and the product reliable. The claims at the press conference were for a technology that will eventually revolutionise power production. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are indeeed an extremely interesting way of generating small quantities of electricity for homes and offices at attractive running costs and low carbon emissions. Other developers, such as Ceres Power in the UK and Ceramic Fuel Cells in Australia/Germany, have products close to market launch and – so far – it is completely unclear whether Bloom's product is better or likely to be more attractively priced or more long-lasting.
SOFCs take a hydrocarbon fuel and split at very high temperature (perhaps 600 degrees C) into hydrogen and carbon. The carbon combines with oxygen to make CO2 and the hydrogen reacts with oxygen from air to make water. This later process causes electrons to flow through the ceramic electrolyte and generate a usable current. The crucial problem is making the cell robust, cheap and durable at the high temperatures experienced in the cell.
Ceramic Fuel Cells has numerous partnerships with large utilities around the world interested in taking its products into local markets. Its product turns about 60% of the energy value of natural gas (largely methane in the UK and Europe) into electricity, making it more efficient than all but the best combined cycle power stations. The remaining energy – residual heat – can be used to provide domestic hot water or, in theory could be used to offer space heating or energy conversion to air conditioning in summer. The carbon dioxide savings are substantial, even if grid natural gas is used. Ceramic Fuel Cells, and probably Bloom, can also use synthesis gas ('syngas') from super-heating wood in the absence of air or can even split liquid ethanol made from agricultural wastes. In theory, a SOFC can use low or zero carbon fuel and offer huge greenhouse gas savings on fossil fuel combustion. SOFCs can also be used for grid balancing. When demand is high, the grid operator will have the ability to remotely increase power output of domestic fuel cells and turn it down when the wind turbines on the hilltops are spinning fast. Ceramic Fuel Cells has successfully demonstrated this feature of its technology.
The problems with SOFCs, probably including the Bloom Box, are well known. The fuel cells burn out and have to be replaced by professional engineers. Ceramic Fuel Cells talks of the units needed to be switched every two years though the company hopes this will improve to once every four years. The cost of the units is high. Ceramic Fuel Cells has mentioned a figure of about £2,000 ($3,000+ ) for a machine that can continuously develop 2 kilowatts of electric power but I think this number is highly optimistic and the true figure is likely to be several times this level for some years to come."
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Seriously? Okay...
So I was surfing the web and I came across this word I was unfamiliar with, so I searched it.
I type it into the search bar: o-m-e-g-l-e, then hit Enter. Click the top link, wow.
Thats what I see when the page loads. "Omegle Talk to Strangers!"
There has to be something better you can do with your time.
I type it into the search bar: o-m-e-g-l-e, then hit Enter. Click the top link, wow.
Thats what I see when the page loads. "Omegle Talk to Strangers!"
There has to be something better you can do with your time.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Internet Connected TV
The furture of TVs is almost here, with the mass spread of Flat-Panel HDTVs and the switch to Digital Signal the market for advanced TVs is here. The most promising technological aspect would have to be web connected TVs. Able to load Flash and use a variety of services/content such as: YouTube, Yahoo! Widgets, Blockbuster On Demand, Flickr, Rallycast, Twitter, eBay, Facebook, Picasa, Revision3, Sports Illustrated, CBS, Bloomberg, Netflix, MSNBC.com, NBC Sports, Rallypoint, Slacker, VUDU, Amazon Video On Demand, CinemaNow, Epicurious, Pandora, and Sony Pictures.
Most computer users are going to be pulled into the PCTV way in the near future. The computer tasks one common person does on his/her computer from word processing to browsing the internet... actually there is nothing in between for the common user. Just typing and browsing, as many more tools and applications are web based. This will mold the entertainment machines together and maximize the needs of the consumer with one product.
Above is a Vizio remote for a internet connection capable HDTV. The remote clearly turns to show a qwerty keyboard that remains in contact with the TV through bluetooth connectivity. Samsung, Sony, and Visio (Panasonic not far behind) seem to be top contenters in my book on who seems closest to making the full transformation of TV and PC to PCTV.
Most computer users are going to be pulled into the PCTV way in the near future. The computer tasks one common person does on his/her computer from word processing to browsing the internet... actually there is nothing in between for the common user. Just typing and browsing, as many more tools and applications are web based. This will mold the entertainment machines together and maximize the needs of the consumer with one product.
Above is a Vizio remote for a internet connection capable HDTV. The remote clearly turns to show a qwerty keyboard that remains in contact with the TV through bluetooth connectivity. Samsung, Sony, and Visio (Panasonic not far behind) seem to be top contenters in my book on who seems closest to making the full transformation of TV and PC to PCTV.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Facebook's Best Feature
Besides the obvious privacy settings which have and continue to get scrutinized... Facebook, one of the largest social networking sites out there currently, has a hidden to some feature. This feature is under the "hide" category, which enables you to hide a person your friends with, or just hide certain applications like Farm Land, What celebrity do you look like?, or What Toy Story Character Are You?... like I show below. You can hide these by mousing over to the top right corner of the post and find HIDE>HIDE __App__. 
Bam, you should nolonger see that app on the news feed by anyone. You can also hide certain people entirely, your choice. Overall, this hide feature is sweet, but wouldn't it be nice for some of us to have that "Block all app invites" button? ... Now that would be a wonderful feature.
Bam, you should nolonger see that app on the news feed by anyone. You can also hide certain people entirely, your choice. Overall, this hide feature is sweet, but wouldn't it be nice for some of us to have that "Block all app invites" button? ... Now that would be a wonderful feature.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Better than Blu-ray?
A tale of two companies... one with the goal of producing storage needs of large companies and the other the large storage needs of the consumer. InPhase Technologies and General Electric are both researching and testing Holographic storage. Storage through disks of multiple lasers and angles, unlike the 90 degree application storage of todays media. InPhase Technologies' holographic disks boast of about 300 GB of data storage (further expansion expected), with up to 50 years shelf life once written. G.E.'s storage is said to be at 500 GB, they are also expecting storage expansion. Even though this sounds amazing, this technology is hindered by the cost of affordable consumer products that play the new format. More companies are working on this basic technology but they're each approaching it differently.
Note: G.E.'s number one goal is the consumer, but it may have to go through the hands of movie studios and other corporate companies to get to the consumer.
Note: G.E.'s number one goal is the consumer, but it may have to go through the hands of movie studios and other corporate companies to get to the consumer.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"Read" all about it!
There comes a time where things change... okay things change every second in our fast paced world. A friend of mine, Cassie, has just brought to my attention a company called Americhip. This is consider a basic advertising company with above average style. They commit to the senses, all of them: Taste. Smell. Sound. Look. Feel. How you ask? Remember the greeting cards that pop out at you? or how about the ones that play music or a personal recording? These are all ideas that Americhip used to make cards more engaging.
Now, Americhip has a new idea, infact its already in production. Its called "Video-to-Print" patented by the Los Angeles company. It uses a low cost cell phone type screen and battery to pass on a message that fits into a brochure or magazine. Take for instance Entertainment Weekly's new CBS ad for new shows... that you can watch. The special issue will be distributed only in the local area but this is just the beginning. Take a gander at the technology. Here's a couple links to give you a better feel.
Iron Man Portable Trailer 1:14
News Video with a few details 2:36
Americhip Website
Now, Americhip has a new idea, infact its already in production. Its called "Video-to-Print" patented by the Los Angeles company. It uses a low cost cell phone type screen and battery to pass on a message that fits into a brochure or magazine. Take for instance Entertainment Weekly's new CBS ad for new shows... that you can watch. The special issue will be distributed only in the local area but this is just the beginning. Take a gander at the technology. Here's a couple links to give you a better feel.
Iron Man Portable Trailer 1:14
News Video with a few details 2:36
Americhip Website
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)